Its easy really, they are going to have to spend a bit to save a bit. If people are offered 50% salary for the Winter off they will get the takers they need. That will save them 50% salary, are they being greedy and they want no salary and Winter off lets be honest they aren't going to get more than a handful of takers. So they know the answer and we know the answer offer the troops 50% and winter off and you may have a long list of takers. This may not be paletable to HR but so what, if PM wants to save a large chunk of salary then he may need to bite a bullet. As for asking some of the older pilots to retire, surely if they wanted to retire they would have done it already.
BALPA, here is my question why is PM so against the BALPA representation. We are all realists and arent going to dash in requesting a pay rise we all knwo a difficult Winter ahead with the economy and "pig flu". So the only reason not to want BALPA would be if you wanted your employee workforce to accept terms an conditions that arent "kosher". Now PM at the BALPA meeting was intially explosive and finished with an air of calmness and negotiation surely he knows we arent all planning to down tools and stand around a brazier, we want jobs as much as he wants a profitable airline in fact the two run hand in hands. In fact if you look at the average stay of his office staff in the job vs the average stay of Flt Deck in the job i bet he would find his pilots are his most long serving and loyal employees. We want the airline to succeed as much as he does, however it states on the front of everyones licence one important word .."Professional". My view is BALPA is required in a format that doesnt provide conflict it just means that the word professional is kept at the forefront of senior managments minds. However if we want to be treated like professionals we have to act like professionals and that little diatribe that appeared in the middle of thistthread was uncalled for and is more likely to inflame passions in the wrong way.